When your child gets arrested, it is normal to feel angry and upset. However, being too emotional can make it hard to communicate effectively with your child, the police, and your child’s lawyer. It is important to remain calm so that you can work effectively with your juvenile defense lawyer to obtain the best possible outcome for your child. If you have not worked with a lawyer before, four things you can expect from a juvenile defense lawyer are the protection of your child’s legal rights, simple explanations of the process, a thorough investigation of the circumstances of your child’s case, and appropriate recommendations for your child’s defense.

Protecting Your Child’s Legal Rights

The first thing your child’s lawyer should do is make sure you and your child understand your legal rights within the Illinois juvenile justice system. For example, your child has the same rights as an adult to remain silent and to have a lawyer at their side to counsel them during any questioning by the police or the State’s Attorney. Your minor child also has the right to request that a parent or other adult family member be with them during questioning. Under Illinois law, the police must make a “reasonable attempt” to contact the juvenile’s parent or guardian before questioning the child. 

Understanding Illinois Juvenile Justice Procedures

If this is your child’s first encounter with police, fear of the unknown can be stressful for both you and your child. The lawyer you choose should help ease your fears by providing clear and concise explanations of each step in the Illinois juvenile justice process. You should feel comfortable asking questions of your lawyer at any time, and your attorney should offer information as it arises.

If you are a parent, you probably spend a great deal of time and energy worrying about your child and the decisions that they are making. Unfortunately, children and teenagers can sometimes get involved with the wrong crowd and make decisions that lead to formal charges being filed in juvenile court. Young people may behave in reckless or illegal ways because they are trying to fit in, they struggle with an addiction or mental health problem, or for other reasons. If your son or daughter has been accused of a crime, a diversion program may help them avoid jail time and turn their life around.

What is the Purpose of a Diversion or Intervention Program?

Juvenile detention is similar to adult incarceration. Minors who are convicted of a crime are sent to juvenile detention as a punishment for their wrongdoing. Generally speaking, juvenile diversion and intervention programs are an alternative to incarceration which may be more likely to help your child stay out of the criminal justice system in the future.

While the structure of juvenile diversion programs varies from program to program, they all share the same goal: to help juveniles avoid becoming repeat offenders. Intervention and diversion programs can be highly beneficial to young people and their families. Studies have shown that these types of programs are overall much more effective at preventing future illegal activity than incarceration in juvenile detention is.

Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed a new bill into law that targets organized retail theft in Illinois. The law, known as the INFORM Act, will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and will allow the Illinois attorney general to charge anyone who knowingly participates in an organized retail theft of more than $300 with a Class 3 felony. Offenders who engage in organized theft from multiple establishments could be charged with a Class 2 felony.

The bill comes as a response to increasing retail theft, including by organized crime rings, and as a reversal of a movement in recent years in some jurisdictions to lower the charges of shoplifting and other retail theft crimes. The Cook County State’s Attorney has not yet commented on how the law would impact Cook County. 

The bill will give one state’s attorney jurisdiction when crimes by the same individual or group occur in more than one county. It will create a statewide intelligence platform to help law enforcement track organized groups and provide additional funding for attorneys and investigators. It also focuses on online third-party marketplaces, where much of the stolen merchandise ends up for sale.

It probably comes as no surprise that retail theft is taken seriously by retailers and law enforcement in Illinois. To protect merchandise at stores and retailers, Illinois has some of the strictest penalties for shoplifting in the country. While you may commonly think of shoplifting as sneaking an item out of a store in a pocket or under a coat, Illinois law specifies a number of actions that constitute retail theft or shoplifting.

Retail Theft in Illinois

Under Illinois law, the following actions constitute shoplifting or retail theft:

• Sneaking merchandise out of a store without paying for it. This is a classic example of shoplifting.
• Changing the price tag or label of an item to make it appear to cost less than it should.
• Hiding merchandise in other merchandise in order to sneak it out of the store.
• Under-ringing an item at a register. This charge had been more commonly used against store employees when buying items for themselves or for their friends or acquaintances. However, it is also becoming more common with the advent of self-checkout lines in grocery stores and other retailers
• Removing a shopping cart from the property of a store and not returning it.
• Knowingly deceiving a store about the ownership of merchandise. This can include claiming you’ve already purchased an item if it has in fact not been paid for.
• Using or possessing a theft detection shielding device or a tool to remove theft detection devices. These can include a laminated or coated bag or another device used to shield merchandise from being detected by a store’s theft sensors.
• Not returning a leased item to a store within the agreed-upon lease term and not paying the full price for taking possession of the item.

Most minor retail theft charges, typically those under $300, are prosecuted as a Class A misdemeanor. More serious charges, up to a Class 3 felony can be charged under certain circumstances. These include previous convictions for shoplifting or other crimes, use of an emergency exit during the shoplifting, or shoplifting a total value of merchandise of over $300 or motor fuel of over $150. The value of items taken can quickly add up, meaning that felony charges are more likely than you might think.

As divorce after the age of 50 becomes more common, it is becoming clear that the issues facing couples who split later in life may be different from those whose divorce occurs in their twenties, thirties, or forties. Child custody and child support are less likely to be issues, unlike if you had divorced when your kids were younger. However, new challenges on how to divide marital assets, handle spousal support, and plan for retirement savings and social security are more common.

Three Common Issues When Couples Divorce Near Retirement

• Spousal maintenance or alimony – While alimony itself is not an uncommon issue to tackle during a divorce, there are additional challenges for older individuals. If one of the spouses has limited or no recent work experience, it can be more difficult to get the opportunities to learn new skills or receive training to start or restart a career. This has a bigger influence on the calculation of spousal maintenance.

• Division of marital property – Like spousal maintenance, dividing marital property in a gray divorce. While you may have accumulated more assets by this stage in your life, you also have less time to save more for the future. This puts more emphasis on how existing property is divided.

  ...